Plymothian Transit Recommends

Bournemouth lies on the south coast of England. The town is flanked by Poole to the west and Christchurch to the east. The whole conurbation is home to nearly 380,000. Random Streets

fbb never attempted to teach his grandmother to suck eggs; indeed he never sucked an egg himself. But the idea of encapsulating the history and character of the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company in a few well-chosen blog phrases is, frankly, insulting to that iconic and much-loved company. I Public Transport Experience

A major transport company, headed by an outspoken Scot and Charted Institute of (Logistics &) Transport chairman, hits the buffers. It has a debt mountain and massive pension liabilities. The debt is partly down to an acquisitive past, with some purchases regarded as ill-judged, with inflated purchase prices. Omnibuses

Today's blog entry will recount some of the snowy scenes around the south from January's snow fall, now two weeks ago. Southern England Bus Scene

“The prices of First group’s bus tickets in Bristol and the quality of their service do not match up. Their fares are the most expensive outside of London, but yet their buses are unreliable and often late. Public Transport Experience

Sureline operated in Weymouth from 2002 until 2009. They brought a fleet of predominantly minibuses to the seaside town, operating across a number of routes with smaller margins that weren't operated by First. Southern England Bus Scene

Delaine Buses will be holding a special Heritage Running Day on their service 101 between Peterborough & Bourne on Good Friday 29th March 2013 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the delivery of their Leyland Atlantean (No.72 ACT540L) Andys Bus Blog

For the latest in our Looking back... series we are focusing on Lockwoods Foods, who once ran a fleet buses on staff transport services from their factory in Long Sutton, Lincolnshire. Andys Bus Blog

8 comments:

Any ideas when the first of these will hit the road? Something I've picked up on, in the ThisIsPlymouth story about Citybus investing in new double deckers, which 'will go into service alongside seven refurbished buses on the 21/21A and 26 routes.' - does the 21/A/26 need 15 buses?!

I guess they will enter service as and when they are refurbished. I dont suppose they will wait until they are all ready. I had heard that new buses would be in April but have not had that confirmed by anyone in the company. As for 15 buses needed - well it wouldnt suprise me if it was close to that!

Suppose so thinking about it - the last batch of PVLs entered service as each one was completed. I've also not heard any official launch date for the new Enviro 400s though going back to a few weeks ago a few drivers were talking about a 'big change' in April when discussing duties/running boards, though this could just be an internal update to drivers duties more than anything else. The B7RLEs were launched last April with a news story about them at around the same time so that could be another 'piece of evidence'.

As for the 21s, it used to require 8 buses (though was reduced to 7 in March 2012), the 22 required 4, while the 26 must've required at least 7, so it must be around 15 come to think of it. The 20/42/A requires 7 - the 20 used to require 3 and the 42 needed 4, the 42D/46/152 (they all change with eachother throughout the day) require at least six possibly more. I do wonder if the 21/A/26 will see DDs on Sundays - my guess is unlikely as on Sundays the 26 stays as a 26 throughout the day, one 21 changes with the 34 once reached town, then a 29 from Derriford, then a 43 and so on, one changes to a 43A and I also I think with the 5/5As, possibly the 28s too, while at least one 21A changes with the 8/9s. I have seen buses that have been on the 21 changing with the 43B too.

If they were to deploy Enviro 400s onto the 21/A/26 on Sundays they'd need to massively re-think/redo a load of running boards (I could go on and on about all the various changeovers on Sundays; put simply, as far as I know, the 26 is the only route I know stays as that same route for the whole day - one 'group' typically follow this pattern

27 to Derriford changes to a 28, 28 into a 61 from town, 61 into a 62, 62 changes to a 29, 29 changes to a 34 from Derriford, 34 into a 42A, 42 from Tamerton changes to a 20, 20 changes to a 27, 27 changes to a 28, 28 into a 61 and so on.) A simpler changeover pattern is the 45 on Sundays changes to a 42 when reaching town, that changes to a 42A from Tamerton, which changes to a 41 from town, 41 upon reaching town changes to a 45 then back to a 42 etc. There's loads more I could go on about though I am getting a bit carried away!!

I guess if they wanted to assign the DDs on the 21/26s on Sunday's they'll have enough time to figure out how!

I wish I stayed on the bus longer that time! Two drivers were chatting about their duties, e.g. 'on an early Monday and Tuesday', Wednesday I'm on a late' and so on, then discussed the routes shown on that running board, and just as I was literally stepping off the bus one said to the other 'and April's when the big change is' - it could as I said be something as small as a drivers duty update or a major timetable overhaul - I have no idea!!

I'd not heard that a route can't be altered for 6 months; take the 'old' 21 for example - in March it was withdrawn from Steer Park and rather inconveniently terminated at the District Centre (by the Chaddlewood Inn). It was returned to Steer Park in the middle of May - just over 2 months. Personally I'd love to see the return of the 22 - it was such a great service! I can't ever recall it ever being late and gave the passengers in Hillcrest Drive etc a direct link into town along Plymouth Road as opposed to going through Woodford first with the 20. If they're looking for ways to increase passenger numbers for the 45 then perhaps merge it with the 42D - I can remember a while ago a 'campaign' from Ivybridge residents for a 'proper' link to Derriford - possibly merging these together may solve the problem, and the 46 and 152 can operate with a vehicle allocation of 1 each remaining on that route throughout the day like the 152 used to.

Obviously take the deckers off the 42Ds, continue to use the 08 Enviros and place the deckers on the 27/28 so all 27/28s are DDs, as only two are at the moment which were moved from the 29/34s, with two SLFs on the 29/34, so perhaps aim to make all 27/28 and 29/34 DDs, which could see off some of the older Darts.

About Me

My main on-line activity is the Plymothian Transit Blog which covers anything and everything to do with transport in and around Plymouth. My main interest was always buses and coaches so these feature heavily in the blog but I am also covering the railways and the road of Plymouth past and present. The development of the City also gets a mention from time to time.